These Factors Cause an Imbalance in Human Hormones
Sometimes we forget how important hormones are to our body functions and well being. If you’ve been experiencing a hormonal imbalance, then you know how taxing it can be on your body.
Unfortunately, hormone imbalances are caused by a variety of factors. Read on to learn about nine.
1. Eating Disorders
Eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa can have a negative impact on your hormones. Not only do eating disorders have a negative impact on your overall health, but they will cause a hormonal imbalance.
When you suffer from an eating disorder, it will trigger the production of stress hormones. These hormones include cortisol, noradrenaline, and growth hormones.
The end result of stress hormones causes anxiety, sleep deprivation, anxiety and panic attacks.
Not to mention eating disorders cause fertility and reproductive hormonal imbalances. Reproductive hormones are responsible for regular periods, sex drive, strong bones, and even healthy hearts.
In women, a reproductive hormonal imbalance will cause irregular periods and sometimes infertility. In men, it can cause erectile problems or a lack of sex drive.
2. Chemotherapy & Radiation
While chemotherapy is a common treatment to fight cancer, it does more than kill those growing cancer cells. Chemotherapy can also have a negative effect on healthy cells.
For starters, chemotherapy can have a negative on reproductive hormones in both women and men.
For example, in women, hormonal changes will manifest as irregular periods, hot flashes, and on some occasions, it can trigger early menopause.
Other symptoms might include vaginal dryness and painful intercourse.
In men, their sperm can be damaged and lead to permanent or temporary lower sperm count.
3. Iodine Deficiency
You want to maintain healthy levels of iodine if you want your body to produce healthy levels of the thyroid hormone.
Since our bodies don’t produce iodine, we have to ensure we get enough of it in the foods we eat.
The thyroid hormones are so important because they control human growth, support the metabolism, and repair damaged cells.
People at risk of iodine deficiency include:
- Vegetarians or Vegans
- People who don’t use iodized salt
- Pregnant women
- Habitants of countries will little iodine in the soil such as South Asia, New Zealand, South East Asia, and some European countries.
4. Abuse of Anabolic Steroids Medications
Some athletes recure to anabolic steroids to promote muscle growth. Anabolic steroids mimic testosterone, which increases muscle size.
They use these steroids not only because their muscle grows, but to reduce the amount of recovery time between sessions. They are able to train more often without worrying about overtraining and exhausting the muscle.
Because anabolic steroids are essentially synthetic hormones, they mess with the body’s natural ability to produce these hormones.
In men, it causes infertility and impotence, not to mention it enlarges the prostate gland. In women, it causes irregular or absent periods, an enlarged clitoris, and even body hair.
5. Being Overweight
Being overweight puts people at risk for many health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and others.
Unfortunately, people who are overweight are also prone to hormonal imbalances.
For example, the hormone leptin, which is produced by fat cells is responsible for reducing your appetite and stopping the urge to eat.
Although people who are overweight have higher levels of leptin, they are not as receptive and sensitive to the hormone.
Insulin is a hormone that regulates carbohydrates and the way metabolizes fat. People who are overweight lose the ability to properly signal the body to control glucose levels.
6. Poor Diet and Nutrition
It’s no secret that many people lead a lifestyle that includes a poor diet.
Having a poor diet and a lack of exercise leads to hormonal imbalances. A diet saturated with processed foods, fast foods, added sugar and starchy carbohydrates is a recipe for hormonal imbalances.
The symptoms of hormonal imbalances due to dieting lead to weight gain, mood swings, fatigue, wrinkles, and sleeplessness.
However, if you’re experiencing hormonal imbalances due to a poor diet, you have the power to change it by eating foods which are better for you. Also by incorporating exercise into your life.
7. Chronic or Extreme Stress
When we become stressed, our bodies release a hormone called cortisol, also known as the stress hormone. Since cortisol temporarily triggers extra energy production, it can lead to other bodily processes not working properly.
The production of too much cortisol can have a direct impact on other hormones in the body especially sex hormones.
When the sex hormones become compromised, people might experience reduced sex drive, irregular periods, acne, depression, and even insomnia.
Finding ways to relax is important for maintaining healthy levels of cortisol.
8. Underactive and Overactive Thyroid
An Overactive or underactive thyroid can have a big impact on the way our hormones behave. Not having a thyroid that is properly balanced can lead to many hormonal imbalances.
An overactive thyroid or hyperthyroidism is a condition caused when the body has excess thyroid hormones.
Having an underactive thyroid or hypothyroidism means your body doesn’t produce enough thyroid hormone.
Thyroid hormones are responsible for so many body functions and affect your heart, brain, muscles, skin, and so much more.
Both conditions have severe symptoms such as weight problems (losing or gaining), sleep issues, depression, hair loss, and sleep conditions.
9. Cancers
Different types of cancer have different effects on your hormones. When your hormones are out of balance and are not detected, they sometimes lead to cancer.
For example, breast cancer happens when progesterone and estrogen are out of balance. Prostate cancer is a result of an imbalance between androgen and testosterone.
Bone cancer takes place when the pituitary gland does not regulate the levels of the growth hormone.
Learn What Causes Hormonal Imbalance
As you can see, there are many factors that can lead to a hormonal imbalance.
It’s always a good idea to maintain a healthy lifestyle and get regular checkups if you feel something is not right. Are the problems with your hormones affecting your daily life? If this is the case, let BodyLogicMD help.
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